Laughing all the way to Latveria
Posted on 16. Sep, 2009 by Jef in Art, Music, Rappers
You have no idea how horny I am to see MF DOOM appear in the new issue of The New Yorker — check out the teaser on the Stones Throw website. But much as I love the metal-faced supervillain and want to see his work get the New Yorker profile style treatment, this shit pisses me off:
“I wanted to get onstage and orate, without people thinking about the normal things people think about. Like girls being like, ‘Oh, he’s sexy,’ or ‘I don’t want him, he’s ugly,’ and then other dudes sizing you up. A visual always brings a first impression. But if there’s going to be a first impression I might as well use it to control the story. So why not do something like throw a mask on?”
Or throw the mask on someone else. Dumile routinely sends out one of his comrades in the DOOM costume and has him lip-sync the entire show. He sees this as a logical extension of the DOOM idea. Fans who have paid for tickets tend to disagree.
If Dumile had his way, he would take it further. He jokes that he’d like to dart backstage after a performance, take off the mask, and then wade into the crowd – beer in hand – and applaud his own work in conversations with strangers. If the subject of DOOM comes up, Dumile will simply play along, like Peter Parker or Bruce Wayne.
“I’m the writer, I’m the director,” Dumile said. “If I was to go out there without the mask on, they’d be like, ‘Who the fuck is this?’ I might send a white dude next … I’ll send a Chinese nigger. I’ll send ten Chinese niggers. I might send the Blue Man Group.”
I love DOOM and all, but taking his admittedly awesome mask gimmick to the level of pretentious no-show performance art is a jagoff move. Is Daniel Dumile serious when he says DOOM is a character that any can play, and that whoever is wearing the mask at a given time is, in fact, DOOM?
Or is it like that time I went to an art gallery in Paris and all I got were these empty-ass rooms?
Maybe I’m just boring and middlebrow, but going to a Jay concert and only getting Memph Bleek is fucking dumb. While we’re either bitching about getting ripped off at a concert or praising DOOM for being, like, so fucked up that he’s awesome, hopefully the rumours aren’t true about him just being messed up on drugs and alcohol. Wouldn’t be the first time we mixed up artistic genius with self-destruction (RIP ODB). Either way, conceptual or not, all I’m seeing are a bunch of blank walls and empty stages.
Note: I meant Latveria, not Latvia. – 2 Marvel Comics nerd points.
Anupa
Sep 17th, 2009
Part of the reason I love DOOM is because of his flow. I understand the point he’s trying to make but he can fuck off if he thinks I’m there to see some stand-in flail around on stage. Maybe he doesn’t have performance value in the literal sense, but to me it lies in his delivery, his tone and cadence. How does he not understand this?
Simon
Sep 17th, 2009
Why does everyone turn into an asshat whenever the New Yorker comes calling?
jessekg
Sep 18th, 2009
I definitely enjoy the description of all the alcohol DOOM stocks up on before going to the recording studio. The writer doesn’t openly say it, but he definitely presents a case for the purported alcoholism.